stress

How mindful are you? Unless you're a Buddhist, it may sound like a strange question. But being more mindful could be an answer to two health issues high on many people's top-10 list: stress and weight.

Simply put, mindfulness means being aware of what you think and do in response to what's around you. It's the idea behind a technique known as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which was developed by best-selling author Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. Research has shown that MBSR can help alleviate anxiety, depression, and pain.

MBSR, which is now offered by medical centers around the world, teaches people to live in the moment and become more aware of how they respond to their surroundings. As a result, they can change how they view whatever causes stress, pain, or other negative feelings and thereby achieve greater peace of mind. Typically, training is intensive, requiring eight weekly 2.5-hour classes plus 45 to 60 minutes a day of meditation. For some busy, stressed-out people, the time commitment is, well, too stressful.

A recent study, published in the journal Health Education & Behavior, has found that a scaled-down version of MBSR can be used successfully at workplaces. People who attended weekly one-hour MBSR meetings at lunch and practiced 20 minutes of yoga a day at their desks reported feeling less stress and sleeping better than those in a comparison group who did not participate.

On the heels of that research comes another new study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, suggesting that mindfulness may also play a role in weight control. Participants (80% of them women) filled out questionnaires asking how often they had reactions such as:

• When a restaurant portion is too large, I stop eating when I'm full.
• I taste every bite of food that I eat.
• I recognize when I'm eating and not hungry.
• When I'm sad, I eat to feel better.

Those who were more mindful about food and eating tended to weigh less. They were also more likely to practice yoga, which the researchers hypothesize may have taught them greater self-awareness.

Food scientist Brian Wansink has written a terrific book, called Mindless Eating, about our lack of mindfulness regarding food and what we can do about it. I highly recommend it. And for more on how greater self-awareness can help control stress, sit back, relax, and watch this video segment.

Which state is psychologically healthier: New York or California? Sounds like a strange question, but it turns out that your emotional well-being may be linked to where you live.

Using CDC survey data, researchers tallied the percentage of residents in every state who reported that their mental health--which included stress, depression and problems with emotions--had been "not good" for at least 14 of the past 30 days. Data were collected before the current recession.

The study, published in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that people living in Kentucky fared worst, with 14% of adults reporting frequent mental distress. West Virginia and Nevada weren't far behind.

The least stressed-out state? Hawaii, where fewer than 7% of residents reported poor mental health. Not too surprising, perhaps. But consider this: Washington, DC--not typically regarded as a bastion of happiness--also topped the list, as did South Dakota. To find out how your state ranked, see the full list.

For the most part, climate didn't appear to be a factor. New Yorkers were better off than Californians, and Hawaiians notwithstanding, people living in the relatively harsh climates of the upper Midwest tended to come out on top.

Still, as this video segment shows, weather can affect our mental well-being, but sometimes in unexpected ways. Another new study--this one published in BMC Psychiatry--found that suicides in Greenland were more common in the summertime, especially in northern regions with nearly constant daylight.

Too much sunny weather, it seems, may not be so good for your mental health. Unless you live in Hawaii.

We all know that a good laugh can help you feel better. But can humor also improve your health?

The late Norman Cousins thought so. When the writer and editor was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in the 1970's, his self-prescribed treatment included humorous TV shows and films, which he credited for helping him recover. He called laughter "internal jogging."

Three decades later, there's new research that may support Cousins' belief. In a study of 20 diabetic patients, half of whom were exposed to humor as part of their treatment, those in the laughter group had higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and fewer signs of inflammation in their blood vessels (a possible risk for heart disease) than those not exposed to humor.

To be sure, a study with only 20 subjects is far from conclusive, and it has yet to be published. Still, it follows other research suggesting that laughter may help increase blood flow, reduce levels of stress hormones, and enhance immune function.

By itself, laughter therapy won't cure cancer or keep you from getting sick. But it certainly can't hurt. At the very least, it may make your pursuit of better health more enjoyable. Watch, for example, how some yoga practitioners are incorporating laugher into their routines.

One physician, Dr. Brad Nieder, has gone so far as to become a stand-up comedian. If further research corroborates that, as the Bible says, a "merry heart doeth good like a medicine," then the good doctor may indeed be on to something by keeping people in stitches.

Can birth control pills raise blood pressure? Is stress the main cause of high blood pressure? Test your blood pressure knowledge with our Everwell Challenge.

The original “hyper-chondriac,” author and humorist Brian Frazer explains why it’s so easy to get angry.